Always one to sound a note of caution, I wonder if there are some upsides to McCain choice of Palin as his vice-presidential running-mate?
Maybe we're getting a little cocky, again. Maybe Rove sees something we don't? Maybe our own attempts to spin Palin, will end up hurting Obama more?
It seems like a fair amount of Obama's post-convetion buzz, and perhaps bounce (time will tell), has been stolen/given over to the remarkable selection of Palin. Even perusing the front page of DailyKos, it seem like its more about Palin than the convention (I include myself as one of the primary offenders in this regard).
It also seems to me that the selection of Palin is tailor-made to Reinforce the frame that Obama is too inexperienced to be president. How? Well, the GOP has been pushing that meme for a while, with limited resources and limited traction. Now they don't have to put much more effort into it. Obama supporters will do all the work as they try to assail Palin as even less experienced than Obama. The concern about experience, Palin's and Obama's, will be constantly paraded in front of the public. Obama supporters will seem as hypocrites to a lot of voters because we said Obama's inexperience didn't matter, it was judgement. Also, despite Dick Cheney's performance, most people still think the VP is a do nothing job. So it doesn't really hurt McCain.
So we'll go on assailing a veteran and a woman. We will go on flogging the inexpereince frame. Meanwhile, McCain, having discarded all maverick pretense, will fire up the base for another culture war around abortion and creation.
As I've said before, I'd like to think the electorate is finally beyond getting bamboozled by the GOP, yet again, but given the past two elections, I won't believe it until I see it.